I thought you folks might be interested in this. A woman who moved to the US from China when she was eighteen had her book pulled for allegations of racism, despite her book not being inspired by American history (I guess). Slate has an article about it: https://slate.com/culture/2019/01/blood-heir-ya-book-twitter-controversy.html I haven't read the book, but I thought this was a good example of how important it is to have your ear to the ground on progressive social issues if you plan to be involved in traditional publishing, so that you can make sure you know how to express yourself in a way that will not lead to confusion or poor messaging.
I would say it has much more to do with not being involved in social media if you want to what you want to do.
Mother f..... I probably should have googled other books called "Blood Heir". Gutted!!! Is it a terrible idea to have the same title as a previously published book?
i wouldnt worry lots of books share titles - and this one didn't even get published so most people will have forgotten about it soon its only a bad idea when the title is very well known ... probably not a great plan to call your book a tale of two cities, or lolita...
Mind you, when I first noticed this thread on the sidebar, I thought it said Blonde Hair Controversy. The print was small.... Team Peroxide, versus Team Henna? It's been a long day and it ain't over yet.
Hahah very true ok thanks. Unfortunately most fantasy/sci-fi titles have that terribly dramatic two-worded title and I am obviously no different. I hate that but it seems so fitting :/
Side note, the publisher did their PR campaign, made changes for the market, and is finally coming out, so it all worked out it seems.
First, the author pulled her own book and her six figure book deal for the series when a couple people who pre-read the book attacked her on social media claiming she poorly represented black slaves. The attack included bombing the pre-sales book sites with one-star reviews. Trouble is, she modeled her slaves after actual slaves in the current era that she was familiar with, not black slaves. Being sensitive to the complaints it looks like there have been some changes and the new release is now Nov. https://slate.com/culture/2019/01/blood-heir-ya-book-twitter-controversy.html Karma is alive and well though not very nice: He Was Part of a Twitter Mob That Attacked Young Adult Novelists. Then It Turned on Him. Now His Book Is Canceled. This is all very unfortunate. I'm glad her book is coming out.
Curses, I guess that means I shouldn't call my book "Mein Kampf" then. On a serious note, I don't think this is about social issues, but about cultural differences. An example is how a certain girl band in Japan pranced around in SS-style uniforms with swastikas, because they thought the uniforms looked "cool". They didn't understand the connotations because they haven't been exposed to the same cultural influences we have in the west. It's a danger for anyone writing or publishing in a culture that they're not fully familiar with.
I guess you could say that's what Google is for. In a way you can't blame people referencing areas of history they haven't been exposed to, or haven't any connection to, but it doesn't take very long to look something up on the internet.
I don't think you can understand the depth of feeling of something by just looking at Google. Race politics, of which slavery is a part, is still a major issue in the USA. You can read about it and maybe understand it intellectually by reading internet articles, but understanding the emotion behind it is another matter entirely. It's like expecting Americans to understand cricket.
Appreciate that, I'm from the UK so I would haven't been exposed to, what did you call it? Race politics? I suppose if it was me then I would have accessed my own experiences, then read up on it, then maybe avoided it altogether if there was any hint there were problems regarding it. I know that writers (artists in general) are expected to push the boundaries...I guess these days are different in that regard, perhaps in every regard. But I see what you are saying.
Waking up a thread that's been dormant since May in order to hijack it into a discussion about race politics is not cool...